How Long Will You Stay With Me?
by Crystaleyed
Summary: " When you're a kid, they tell you it's all... grow up. Get a job. Get married. Get a house. Have a kid, and that's it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better." Post journey's end with plenty of twists and surprise turns, because who said that life was simple?
1. The Strangers on the Beach

Hello Everyone,  
First thing's first, this story is set post Journey's End so if you don't want to know what happens at the end of that episode, please go and watch it and come back to this fanfic later. I have experimented with this fic a couple of times, but I believe I've got it just right this time, I hope you enjoy it.

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_Bad Wolf Bay_

The bay sat mournfully on the coast of a small village in Norway.  
It's smooth sandy beach was warm to the touch and the jagged cliffs provided shelter from the incoming tide and sometimes inclement weather. It seemed like the perfect beach, a popular tourist spot to the naked eye, but it remained untouched.  
There was something about the beach, an atmosphere that made it inaccessible and unapproachable as visitors and villagers alike, stared at it in a curious fear, before walking off to more welcoming beaches further along the coast.  
So it was somewhat surprising when the old man, walking his dog along the road that ran alongside the beach, spotted three figures, standing on the smooth sands of Bad Wolf Bay. He pulled the lead back as the dog obediently walked over and sat, protectively, at his feet. The old man's eye sight was not what it used to be, but from the wall he could make out the figure of a younger woman, standing alone, looking at a vacant spot just in front of her. Just behind her was a man, whose gaze was fixed upon her and an older woman who was staring at the same spot as the younger woman, who he guessed was the younger woman's mother.  
The man began to walk towards the younger woman and they looked at each other for a moment, as the older woman turned back and began to walk up the beach, holding what looked like a mobile phone in her hand.  
Suddenly the younger woman turned and followed the older woman up the beach. The man stood, looking at the spot that had so interested the other two women moments earlier and the older man couldn't help but notice how sad and lost that man looked, he reminded him of the people left on the docks as a boat sailed out of the harbour and into the sea.  
The young woman continued to march towards the road above, as her mother stopped, halfway between them, patiently waiting for the lost man.  
The man took one last look at the vacant patch of sand and took a breath of the salty sea air before following the two women up the beach.

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Please let me know what you think and if you want to hear more of this fic.  
Constructive criticism and encouragement is always welcome and thank you, in advance, for any nice comments.


	2. The Things We Lost

Hello everyone,  
Thank you for all of your amazing feedback, I hope that you enjoy the next chapter.

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Rose's head was a whirlwind of complex, unspoken emotions as she rested her head against the magnolia wall that separated her from the Doctor, if she could even call him that, now that he was human. What on earth did her Docto expect? That the two of them would stroll off, hand in hand into the sunset, because it was the right and logical solution?  
_Human's aren't like that_ she wanted to scream _human's aren't logical, they're complex and messy and don't always make the right, logical decision, why can't you see that?.  
_Frustrated by her own thoughts she purposefully pulled the covers back and walked towards the window, curiously peeking through the thin nylon curtains, at the stars above. How she would miss those stars, the planets and galaxy's and the comforting sound of the TARDIS, the way it greeted her like an old friend. She slid down the wall, near the window, landing with a silent thud as she allowed the exhaustion to creep over her. She was back where she had started all those years ago, shedding tears over a man and that incredible way of life that she had lost.

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His bed was too comfortable, he was too tired to fall asleep and nothing seemed right.  
He leaned against the window pane, staring up at the beautiful pin pricks of light that humans often called stars. He could name each one of them, like old friends, and couldn't deny the pang of deep sadness he felt at the thought that he would never see them again.  
He stormed, half way across the room, hesitating at the foot of the bed before collapsed onto the white sheets and padded mattress, exhausted and overwhelmed, as a familiar wave of nausea passed over him, settling deep in his head. He knew what was happening immediately and still had enough of his brain to analyse the outcome and for the moment push it back. One day, he knew, he wouldn't be able to, but right now the pain in his head and the fond memories of Donna, were the least of his worries.  
Rose,  
that was his worry, he could deal with every alien that the world wanted to throw at him, the doors and carpets didn't scare him anymore, but the way that Rose looked at him, with bitterness and anger burning in her eyes, did. He felt his eyes slowly closing, noting the absence of the familiar tune that the TARDIS used to play, every time he fell asleep. He felt tears prick his eyes as a single phrase imprinted itself into his head  
_I'm nothing more than a consolation prize._

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Favourites, Follows and Reviews are always welcome.  
Thank you in advance for any support for this little story, I'm sorry that the last few chapters have been a little short, I promise that the next few will be longer.


	3. Citizen of the Earth

Hello everyone,  
here is the next chapter, I hope it continues to be entertaining and thank you to everyone who has already reviewed, followed or favourited this story, thank you it really means a lot.

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He had told Rose once that he had a fear of hospitals, something that didn't seem unusual to anyone, especially not to her, it was a common fear, a belief that many humans held. But he hadn't been entirely honest with her that day. His real fear lay in laboratories and the cold, clinical white washed walls of Torchwood did nothing to calm his nerves.  
It reminded him of Canary Warf, a place that he had never wanted to be reminded of again. He caught Rose's eyes as she walked alongside him and Pete down another white washed corridor towards yet another white washed room, and felt a shiver down his spine as he realised that Rose was thinking exactly the same thing and that the roaring, furious fire in her eyes was only being constrained by the smallest amount of willpower.  
The doors slid open as the trio stepped through the doors into a bright white room.  
The back wall of the room largely consisted of a window, that looked out onto the London skyline and filtered the natural light into the space. In front of this window was a glass desk, where a young woman sat eagerly typing out notes on a computer. A grey three seater sofa rested, patiently, against the wall, behind a glass coffee table which Jonathan presumed was reinforced to withstand a certain level of shock and was most likely bulletproof.  
The young woman, stood as they walked in and walked over, whispering something to Rose and Pete, as Jake directed Jonathan towards the sofa. No sooner had the young woman appeared, she and Pete were striding, purposefully through a set of doors, which Jonathan would soon realise, lead to Peter Tyler's office, and Rose walked slowly towards him, settling herself on the sofa next to him.  
"I wouldn't worry about that" Jake commented, sharing a reassuring smile with the Doctor, if that was still what he was supposed to be called  
"It's a chance for some of the government officials to show off, nothing more"  
"What are they doing in there?" the Doctor innocently asked  
"They're looking at your application, figuring out if you should be allowed to stay" Rose told him, in a way that felt clinical and harsh. He knew she had changed, but now, looking at her, sitting beside him on the sofa, in her black boots, trousers and blue t shirt, he could see that she wasn't the young girl he had picked up on the streets of London all those years ago. This was a woman who had seen so many things, things that she probably shouldn't have seen at such a young age and he felt a stab of guilt and doubt, he wondered for a moment whether Davros had been right all along.

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The minutes dragged on into hours as Rose walked in and out of Peter Tyler's office in varying degrees of annoyance. It was clear that things were not going well and the Doctor stared, distractedly, into the distance, trying not to think of the questions he didn't want to answer.  
"Have they decided how they're going to dissect me yet?" the Doctor bitterly asked, forcing Jake to turn, sharply, from his position at the window and for Rose's eyes to briefly soften, in what the Doctor recognised as a look of empathy and care, something he hadn't seen in Rose since they had landed on Bad Wolf Bay almost a week ago. Even he had noticed that he was bitter and had come to realise just how much he shared with the version of himself he desperately wanted to forget.  
"It won't come to that" Jake told him sternly "not on my watch"  
"Nor mine" Rose told him, defiantly "Anyone who wants to get to you will not only have to go through me and dad, but they'd have to go through mum, and I don't see anyone taking that decision lightly" Jonathan's mouth twitched, briefly into a smile as Jake settled himself back into the sofa, before a rather large, balding man stormed out of the office, his bitter and angry eyes fixed firmly on the Doctor as the door slammed behind him and he stormed off into the corridor. Pete stood by the door, breathing a sigh of relief as the three of them walked through into the office. Pete placed his hand on the Doctor's shoulder, imparting a warm and reassuring smile that told him everything he needed to know  
"You don't need to worry" he told Jonathan "we just have a few things to do and then you're free to do whatever you like"

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The microchip was the worst part of being granted citizenship of the earth, it felt like a chain, with a massive weight on his ankle, pinning him down and confirming, for both him and Rose, that he was stuck here and that no matter how much both of them hated it, they would both have to get used to it, in time.

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Thank you for taking the time to read this  
Reviews, Favourites and Follows are always welcome.


	4. Classified Doccument: Dr Jonathan Nobel

**TORCHWOOD INDUSTRIES  
CLASSIFIED DOCCUMENT : ALIEN INTEGRATION DEPT.**

**FACTFILE**

**Name: **Dr Jonathan Nobel

**Species: **Time Lord / Human Hybrid

**Blood Type: **O-

**Abilities: **High IQ  
Enhanced fitness and endurance  
Possible telepathic abilities (unconfirmed)

**Certificates Issued: **Birth Certificate  
Boarding School Scholarship  
GCSE Certificates A* in Maths, Science, English Language and Literature, French, Law, History and Latin  
A Level Certificates A* in Maths, Biology, History and Astronomy  
Medical Degree from Glasgow University  
Honorary Degree from St Cedd's, Cambridge  
Military Records (See below)

**HUMAN IDENITY DETAILS**

**Date of Birth: **18th April 1971

**Age: **38

**Place of Birth: **Coniston, Lake District, England

**Parents: **Donna Foreman (Deceased)Jack Nobel (Deceased)

**Other Relatives: **Jamie Nobel (Deceased)

**Background: **Jonathan was born in Coniston (Lake District, Yorkshire, England) to Donna and Jack Nobel. Donna died in childbirth and he spent his childhood with his father and elder brother, Jamie Nobel. He was educated at the local primary school until the age of eight when he received a scholarship for a boarding school in Lancashire.  
While at school Jamie joined the army and Jonathan lost contact with his father. He also became close friends with Harold Saxon (deceased) whose parents, Sarah Jane (deceased) and Koschie (deceased), invited Jonathan to live with them in Bergen, Norway during the summer months.  
He completed his secondary education before earning a medical degree from Glasgow University and an Honorary Degree from Cambridge University. He then joined the army, alongside his brother, Jamie as a Military Paramedic with the RAMC later becoming a Medical Officer until his brother's death in 1999. For two years he volunteered with Doctors Without Borders, before being introduced to Ricky Smith in 2001, and became employed as a medical assistant for Torchwood Industries operations in Norway. In 2008 he returned to England.


	5. A Desperate Situation

Hello everyone,  
I'm sorry about the delay in getting this chapter published. I had to prioritise a few things, but I hope that this chapter was worth the wait.

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"Are you sure I can't get you anything?" Jake asked as Jonathan threw his coat onto a bar stool and sighed, letting his head lull back into the cushioned wall behind him.  
"Alright then" Jonathan replied and Jake smiled, patting him on the shoulder before rushing off to the bar to order their drinks.  
It had been two months since the crucible, the doctor and bad wolf bay and he was finding life as a normal, boring human being, bearable, even enjoyable at times. He had a job as a biology teacher in a secondary school and Jake had ensured that he was introduced to as many alien friendly places as he could find.  
"There you go" Jake announced, triumphantly placing two glasses on the table in front of them. The bar that the two of them found themselves in that day was one such alien friendly place. It was completely underground and could only be accessed through a number of secret alleyways and doors, ensuring the safety of all who visited. The area itself resembled the caves and rocks found on Khan, with a number of chairs and tables that had been hastily placed around the ornate bar. In the natural curves of the space were booths, with cushioned headrests and fixed tables, that looked as though they may have originally been from an American diner, but now looked perfectly at home in the dim light of the underground bar.  
"What did you want to ask me about?" Jake asked  
"It's Rose" Jake nodded, leaning back in his chair and taking a long sip of his drink  
"I thought it might be".  
Jonathan was not a hopeless romantic and he had never expected, after everything that had happened, for her to walk off into the sunset with him, madly in love and ready to start their new life on the spot; he was happy to leave that kind of idealistic thinking to the Doctor. But Jonathan had settled into the Tyler household now, he would regularly sit in the Tyler's library, reading books as Pete filed paper work for Torchwood and the other business ventures he organised. Jackie had surprised him by seeming much more approachable than she had when they had last been face to face, even if she could still put up a terrifying fight, it did seem that, for now at least, they were on the same side. He even got on with Tony, who idolised him and would often wait by the window as he walked up the driveway towards the house and ran around the garden with him, retelling Jonathan the stories that Rose had told him in the Doctor's absence, stories that they had once shared. But Rose was as distant as ever and Jonathan didn't know how much longer her absence could go on.  
"You're her best friend, Jake. Has she said anything to you?"  
"I may see her more than you do, but she's a difficult woman to read, she's changed a lot you know" Jonathan quickly took a sip from his glass letting the sting of the alcohol warm his throat. He didn't need to be reminded that Rose had changed. He had learnt that she had nearly died on a number of her trips across the void and despite not being the one who left her, he couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt.  
"What do I do?" he begged as Jake leaned back, taking a large swig out of his glass, before placing it on the tray of a purple skinned bar maid who playfully winked at him as she walked past  
"You've tried talking to her I assume?"  
"Every night"  
The conversation, now a well-oiled routine in the Tyler household, consisted of him knocking on her door and waiting for a reply that never came, an invitation to sort things out and talk things out that was never accepted.  
"I love you Rose" he would whisper through the door that separated them before walking up the corridor towards his room.  
Jonathan could feel his head pounding and placed his hands over his eyes, as Jake patiently waited while Jonathan focused on the throbbing pain within his head. So far he had managed to hide his headaches from public view and, unsure what he was supposed to do about the situation at hand, he intended to keep it that way.  
"Are you okay?" Jake asked as Jonathan lifted his hands away from his face, finishing off the rest of his drink  
"Yeah" he lied "Just tired and frustrated" Jake nodded empathetically.  
" I don't see why, if you listen to her and tell her everything, you shouldn't be able to work things out. Rose may be her mother's daughter, but she's not a bad listener and you have to agree that she has her heart in the right place" Jonathan nodded, he couldn't deny that Rose had a good heart, he just wished that he could understand it the way that he used to when he was someone else.  
Jonathan grabbed his coat from the bar stool as Jake settled the bar tab and the pair walked out into the harsh sunlight.

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I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter, as per usual all constructive and positive feedback is welcome and, life allowing, I promise to get the next chapter out, without too large a gap :) .


	6. Clarity

Hello Everyone,  
I feel like I say this a lot, but I truly am sorry for the delay. I'm in the process of moving back in with my parents for the summer and as you can imagine, that's pretty all-consuming at the moment. Anyway, I've kept you waiting long enough so here's the next chapter

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Rose lay on her double bed, allowing the thick covers to wrap themselves around her as she idly watched the sun sink under the bushes of the Tyler mansion's ornate garden. She brushed her fingers along a strange, green coloured rock that sat on her bedside table. It was just a rock, a present from a refugee she helped a year or so ago. But to her it was a reminder of the Doctor, a memory of a planet she had visited and the trigger of many of her tears.  
She still had mixed feelings about the Doctor and she had come to terms with the fact that she would never be 100% contented with what had happened to her and to Jonathan.  
She loved the Doctor, that much was true, he was the man who introduced her to planets, stars and galaxies, he didn't tell her that girls from council estates worked in shops and did nothing with their lives, he convinced her that she could be anything she wanted to be, and it was very hard to be mad, for very long, at a man like that.  
But she also hated him, she hated the fact that he had just left, without a proper goodbye, she thought she at least deserved that. She hated the fact that he hadn't given her a choice, that he had decided what was best for the young woman who was perfectly capable of making her own decisions, but what she hated most of all, was what he had done to Jonathan.  
Though she knew she hadn't been very good to him, over the last few months, she hated that the Doctor had left him with those words,  
_born in battle, full of blood anger and revenge_.  
She hated it, not because she thought he was cruel, she knew that in his head he still believed himself to be a monster, repenting for an impossible tally of sins, but because she didn't think it was true. She had never seen a monster when she looked at the Doctor, she'd seen a soldier who'd been fighting for too long and didn't know how to stop and she didn't believe that that, was something to be ashamed of.  
"Rose?"

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I hope that you enjoyed the chapter and that it was worth the wait.  
As per usual reviews, follows and favourites are always welcome.


	7. No Second Prizes

Hello everyone,  
It has taken a while for me to upload this next chapter, so I won't keep you any longer. I hope you enjoy.

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Jonathan stood at her bedroom door, his perfected routine, performed without thought  
"Rose?" he asked again, waiting for the reply that never came. Jonathan took a deep breath and screwed his eyes shut, hoping that the words would come out.  
_Some things need to be said  
_"I know you can hear me, Rose, so please just listen" he opened his eyes wearily as the tears threatened to spill, this was his last chance, he could feel it and he was sure that she could too, because he loved her too much to hurt her, everything hung upon the outcome of this potentially one sided conversation.  
"I'm not the Doctor" he told her "I never can be the Doctor and I know that's what you want, and I, more than anyone, wish he'd given you the choice. I can't show you the stars" he told her, running his fingers through his messy mop of brown hair in frustration "I can't give you the planets and galaxies like he did, I'm just a normal, plain boring old human, the consolation, the second prize, whatever you want to call me" He hadn't realised how loud his voice had become until he heard his disembodied echo bounce down the corridor. He took a moment to calm himself, he used to be more in control of himself than this and he hated the chemicals that buzzed around his brain, the headaches that interacted and mingled with hormones raging through his blood stream.  
"The only thing I have is you, my love for you is all I've got and I know that that's not good enough and if you want me to leave, as much as it will hurt, I will" he promised her, tears spilling cautiously from his eyes.  
He loved the Tyler's, it was the first time in hundreds of years that he had a family and the thought of giving that up crushed him  
_had he not lost enough?!. _But if that family came at the expense of Rose's happiness he knew that he would never forgive himself.  
What followed was a heavy silence as Jonathan gently placed his hand and forehead on the door, whispering the words that she had heard so many times over the last two months.  
"I love you Rose"

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Rose bit back her tears as she watched her feet, hang off the side of the bed.  
In those last two months, she hadn't thought once about how badly, what happened at Bad Wolf Bay had affected him and the last thing she would ever want him to do is leave. She forced herself to her feet, the guilt turning her stomach as a nauseous wave passed over her, but she was determined to put things right.  
She opened the door and ran towards him.  
She wrapped her arms around him as he cautiously stood by his bedroom door. She could feel his arms wrap around her back as she sobbed into his jacket.  
"I'm sorry" she cried as she felt him place a gentle kiss on her head, rocking her slowly till her breathing had calmed and steadied.  
She listened to his frantic heartbeat slowly return to its normal beat  
_how much had she put that poor little heart through these last few months  
_"You are not a consolation prize" she began, looking into his chocolate brown eyes, her teeth gritted together as she struggled to keep her voice from breaking "The stars and the planets were nice, of course they were. But I fell in love with you in a chip shop" she told him as the corner of his lip twitched into a smile and his eyes brightened at the thought of that chip shop on a busy street in central London.  
"So you're content to be stuck with me, Miss Tyler?" he asked, placing his hands around her waist, perhaps he was moving too fast, but he only had one life, it felt like every moment was slipping through his fingers like sand, and they had wasted two months already.  
"Stuck with you isn't so bad" she reminded him  
"Really?"  
"Yes" and the kiss that followed left them both breathless.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter.  
Favourites, Follows and Reviews, as always, are most welcome.


	8. An Ordinary Day

Hello Everyone.  
Thank you everyone for your patience, reviews, follows and favourites. It's great to hear that you're all enjoying the story so far, hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint.

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2 months later

The sun plummeted, into the distant canal, dying the blue water red.  
It was a spectacle that Rose had seen many times from the window of their new flat, but it was one that amazed and comforted her none the less. She had seen so many horrors that even the tiniest piece of beauty had to be savoured.  
The door clicked open, slamming shut just seconds later and Rose smiled as she heard an exhausted grunt coming from the lounge and pulled herself from her bed and walked into the living room. There, as predicted, was Jonathan, lying on the sofa, his shoes thrown beneath his feet and his arm resting over his face, his briefcase resting against the side of their leather sofa.  
"Who did you have this afternoon then?" Rose asked as she walked across to the kitchen, pulling out a box of tea bags from the cupboard  
"Year Nine" he murmured "Why can't they be like that school where you met Sarah Jane for the first time"  
"Deffry Vale?"  
"Exactly" Jonathan exclaimed, as he pulled himself to a sitting position and Rose attended to the whistling kettle "Why can't everyone be like the kids there"  
"Because" Rose began as she carefully placed Jonathan's cup of tea on the coffee table in front of him "They were being brainwashed by power hungry bat people who wanted to take over the universe"  
"At least they sat in one place and pretended to be interested" he told her, taking a long sip from his cup of tea as Rose placed hers down on the coffee table and walked towards him "I feel like I tell them all about this wonderful stuff and in the end I discourage more of them than I encourage".  
Rose jumped over the back of the sofa and wrapped her arms around him, letting her legs dangle next to his and playfully nestling her head into the curve of his neck  
"I'm sure you encourage plenty of people to do wonderful things and at least all your groups aren't full of thirteen year olds" Jonathan relaxed, leaning back and placing a gentle kiss on her lips  
"What would I do without you?"

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1:35am

She landed on a patch of cold, damp grass, her eyes filled with tears looking up at the stars.  
She lay there for a moment, completely still, trying to work out from the position of the stars where she was. But her head was too frantic, her heart was beating too quickly and she was far too scared to think clearly. She stood up, dusting the drops of early morning dew from her red cloak as she was blinded by the bright lights and deafened by the cocking of a gun.

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As always favourites, follows and reviews are always welcome.


	9. Trapped

Hello Everyone,  
I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to write and post this, I hope that it's worth the wait. I also just want to say another quick thank you to all of you for your comments, I can't reply to you all individually, but I really do appreciate it.

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She was disorientated.  
She wasn't a natural traveller, sure she had travelled with her grandfather a long time ago, but she still couldn't land on a planet without having some time to get her bearings, the way that he did.  
She didn't know how she had come to find herself in what the guards and officials referred to as cells, all she knew was that as the clock hit 8am, she found herself in a white box room, with nothing but a bed, suspended from one of the walls.  
It wasn't as dark and dismal as some of the other prison cells she had been to or found herself in, it was much lighter, owing to a glass wall that separated her from the outside world, a wall which, she concluded, must be activated by a person's fingerprint, owing to the finger marks around one particular section of the glass.  
At that point a guard walked towards her, holding a plate of food.  
"I don't know what you eat or if you're hungry" he told her "but I thought I'd offer" he seemed nice enough, but she knew that looks could be deceiving  
" What planet am I on?!" she demanded  
"You're on earth" he told her as she shrugged and leaned against one of the brick walls  
"I'll eat most things then" she informed him as he slid the plate through the glass wall, which seemed to part, just enough to let the plate of food through her cell and then closed up, quickly behind itself.  
It was a full English breakfast, a meal loaded with memories and sadness, her husband had made it for her, every morning, during her time on earth and the smell of it reminded her so perfectly of him. If only she might have died before seeing the day where the English breakfast wasn't sitting on her bedside table as she woke up.  
"Thank you" she murmured, picking up the plate and holding back her tears as the guard turned sharply on his heel and left.

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10 am

She could hear a woman's heels, clicking against the concrete steps as she traced familiar names over and over again into the floor.  
_You promised  
_she couldn't help but mutter to herself  
_You promised  
_"Hello" she stopped tracing the words into the cold floor below and looked up to see the guard who had served her breakfast, and a young woman, in black heels and trousers, a purple t shirt and a blue jacket. She had blonde hair and a calm, warm smile on her face. She bent down towards the woman in the cell, who kept her back firmly pressed against the wall.  
On a strange planet, trust was not a luxury that she could afford.  
"I'm Rose" the woman with the blue jacket told her as she waited expectantly for the girl in the cell to say her name  
"You couldn't pronounce my name even if you wanted to" she told Rose, who was now kneeling to the same level as the woman in the cell, who was sitting, upright on the floor.  
"Would you let me try?" Rose asked, as the woman turned her face from Rose to look at the bed to the side of her  
"That's a nasty wound" Rose told her as the woman looked down at her ankle to see a scratch  
"Do you want me to get someone to look at it for you?" Rose asked, but the woman shook her head  
"I didn't even notice, must have gotten it from home"  
"Home doesn't sound like the safest place?" Rose told her, seeing that the woman had now turned back to look at her and was starting to open up.  
"Wars never are" the woman in the cell retaliated, covering her ankle with her red cloak.  
"Is that why you came here, to escape the war?" the woman in the cell nodded as Rose got to her feet again.  
"Why am I here?" the woman demanded, standing up and turning to face Rose  
"We need to make sure that you are who you say you are, there are a lot of lives at stake if we get things like this wrong" the guard told her.  
The woman in the cells smiled slightly "So you think I'm a threat?"  
But Rose shook her head "Personally, no, but I have orders and rules to follow" the woman nodded as she paced towards the back of her cell  
"It will go much quicker if you tell me your species" Rose told her, to which the woman in the cell sadly scoffed  
"There are people who would kill me if they knew what species I was"  
"I've got a feeling I'm not one of them" Rose told her  
"What species?"  
"Human" Rose replied.  
A comfortable silence followed as the woman in the cell weighed up her options. She trusted Rose and the guard, they had said nothing to alarm or scare her and not asked too much of her, which she was grateful for, it was their superiors she was worried about, but what could she do about that? She needed to get out of here, being trapped in a cage, like an animal, wasn't a very good place for her to be.  
"Do you have some paper?" she asked "and a pen?"  
the guard stepped forward and slid a pen and a notepad of paper under the glass wall and the woman began writing, a series of strange lines and circles before she carefully put the piece of paper at the end of the wall, which Rose reached out to grab.  
"That's my name" she told Rose "and if you can translate that then you know where I come from" Rose nodded  
"Thank you"

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4:10 pm

Rose sighed as another effort to translate the piece of paper, given to her by the woman in the cell, ended in failure. Clearly the woman knew what she was doing. Rose smiled as the clock hit quarter past and she began to pack away her things for the day.  
There was one last thing that she could try.

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Favourites, Follows and Reviews are welcome as always.  
I would be interested to know who you think the woman in the cell might be.


	10. Revelations

Hello Everyone,  
I will keep this brief because I don't want to keep you waiting for this next chapter any longer than you already have (I'm really sorry about that, life has just been so hectic lately) but I did just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported this story, in whatever way, I really do appreciate it.

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That Night.

Rose clumsily placed the last empty plate in the sink and stared, doubtfully, at her jacket, which hung off the back of a chair in the kitchen. It was Friday night, the night that she and Jonathan had vowed that they wouldn't talk about work, a night they had dedicated to spending with each other. But Rose couldn't stop thinking of that young woman, sitting in a cell and her sense of duty won out as she took the piece of paper from her jacket pocket and walked back towards the living room.

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"What's this?" Jonathan asked as Rose put the piece of paper on the coffee table in front of them  
"Something I need you to translate, when you have a moment" Rose told him as she sunk into the back of the sofa, grabbing the remote and flicking through the channels on the TV.  
"I thought we said no work on a Friday evening?" Jonathan whined as he leaned forward staring at the piece of paper on the coffee table  
"I know" Rose apologised, putting her arm around his shoulders and placing a kiss on his cheek "But it's for someone we're having to detain at the moment and I want to get her out as soon as possible".  
Jonathan sighed as he turned the piece of paper over to see the lines and circles that the girl in the cell had hastily scribbled just hours earlier, grabbed a pen from his pocket and began to translate. Rose muted the TV as she grabbed an empty mug from the coffee table and threw it into the sink, along with the rest of the washing up.  
When she returned the piece of paper lay, translated, on the coffee table. Jonathan's face was a pale white and feelings of horror, surprise and joy darted across his eyes.  
"Jonathan, what is it?" Rose asked, her brows furrowing with concern as she perched on the edge of the sofa "What does it say?"  
"Susan Foreman" Jonathan told her as he picked up the piece of paper and stared at it in disbelief  
"Do you know her? Is she dangerous?"  
"No" Jonathan replied "Good as gold" and for a moment his eyes began to soften  
"Who is she?"  
"My granddaughter"

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Dun Dun Duhh :D  
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please let me know what you thought, it's always lovely to hear from you.


	11. The First Argument

Hello Everyone,  
I don't want to keep you so I hope that you enjoy this chapter and if you can offer any feedback at all that would be wonderful.

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Jonathan continued to stare at the piece of paper in disbelief, he had so many questions for which there was no immediate answer and the noise in his head was driving him mad  
_She was dead! He watched her and everything he loved burn! How had she survived?  
Had anyone else survived alongside her?  
Would anyone who had survived remember him?  
If they did would they want to see him again or would they want him to pay for what he had done to their families, their planet? _  
"She's your granddaughter?!" Rose asked, pulling Jonathan from the chatter inside his head, towards the living room, where Rose now stood in front of him, a look of confused anger crossing her face, illuminated only by the fading daylight. Jonathan nodded as he shakily placed the piece of paper on the coffee table between them and pushed himself off the sofa, to his feet.  
"How.."  
"I was a dad once" Jonathan repeated "and a grandfather too before the war, why is that such a surprise?".  
"When were you going to tell me?" Rose asked after a short pause, her piercing eyes fixing on him as they welled up with tears and Jonathan realised his mistake.  
"Rose, I thought she was dead"  
"That doesn't answer my question!" she walked towards the window and leaned against the window pane as Jonathan tried desperately to think of something to say, he hated the chemical imbalance in his brain, in that moment he couldn't stand being human, he couldn't say a word to her to explain the myriad of emotions and memories in his head.  
After a moment's agonising pause, Rose walked towards the kitchen and wordlessly grabbed her jacket off a chair in the kitchen and walked towards the door  
"Where are you going?"  
"Out!" she shouted as the door slammed shut behind her.

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I don't have a lot of time on my hands at the moment, hence the shorter chapters, but I hope you're enjoying them nonetheless.  
As always feedback, in it's many forms, is greatly appreciated.


	12. Forgiveness

Happy New Year.  
I hope you all had an amazing time celebrating and hope that this next chapter is a lovely addition to your new year.

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His shirt clung to his skin as he ran away from the flames, beating at his back and he heard the TARDIS screaming. He ran from room to room as horrific images of his life flashed before his eyes. His face landed on the cold, hard floor of the Dalek crucible, the flames encircling him and choking him as the disembodied voice of Davros echoed  
"You did this! I name you! You are the destroyer of worlds!"

Jonathan started awake, his heart racing and his night shirt clinging to his chest; his forehead glistening in the light of the early morning. He turned, forgetting the argument a few hours ago, and expecting to see Rose, sleeping soundly by his side, but instead saw nothing and his head crashed back down onto the pillow bellow him, as he sighed with a heavy heart.

_How was he going to get out of this one?_

* * *

Later

The bus rolled in as Jonathan swung around the banister, joyfully thanking the driver as he stepped off the bus along with a large cohort of drowsy students. The sun was out on what had proven to be a bitterly cold morning and Jonathan clung to his coat and popped the collar up to protect his ears from the fierce wind. It was another thing he had noticed, about being human, but it was also a part of being human that he was more than happy to get used to.  
He turned the corner and saw the shadow of a recognisable figure, standing just inside the school gates and Jonathan couldn't stop his mouth from twitching upwards as Rose walked towards him and met him on the street, just outside his school  
"Hello" Rose greeted, mournfully  
"Hello"  
"I just wanted to say sorry, I shouldn't have tried to force you into telling me things"  
"It's okay" Jonathan nodded "I guess I should try and not keep everything to myself all the time. I'm just not used to … human relationships"  
"It's not that" Rose reassured him, sighing in frustration "it's, it's just, you know everything about me. Where I was born, my best friends, what I got for Christmas when I was twelve"  
and Jonathan couldn't help but smirk, while remembering the look of shock and surprise that had crossed her face when he mentioned that red bicycle  
"and I don't even know your name" she pleaded.  
Without a moment's hesitation Jonathan leant towards her and whispered a collection of strange and wonderful words in her ear.  
The sounds, when combined reminded Rose of so many different things  
The quiet rumble of a log fire,  
The deafening howl of a violent storm,  
The turning of a page in a quiet room,  
They all sounded like the Doctor.  
"That's my name" he told her, catching a glimpse of the astonishment in her eyes as he lips melted into a smile.  
"Did you never have nicknames?" and Jonathan chuckled slightly  
"Theta" he told her  
"Theta" she repeated, taking the time she needed to taste his name in her mouth and on the tip of her tongue as the cool air puffed from her mouth and gracefully dissolved into the cool morning "I like it" she concluded as Jonathan stole a deep and passionate kiss from her; a kiss which was only punctuated by the coos of a group of school girls on the other side of the school gates.  
Rose hid her face in Jonathan's chest, trying to hide her laughter from the other children walking into school as Jonathan sharply looked up, kindly asking  
"Haven't you got a class to go to?!"  
The children quickly scurried off into the warmth of the school canteen as Rose and Jonathan fought, unsuccessfully, to contain their laughter.

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I hope you enjoy this story.  
Favourites, Follows and Reviews are all welcome, as per usual


	13. The Terrible Truth

Hello everyone,  
There has been a bit of a delay in terms of getting this next chapter out, but I hope that it is worth the wait.

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Susan lay on her back, staring at the concrete ceiling above.  
She had come to the conclusion, a few hours into her captivity that grey was the dullest colour humanity had ever created, she could only imagine how some of the humans would react to the colours on Galifrey, everything was so bright and colourful there, not like this grey hell Susan now found herself in.  
She thought about Galifrey a lot, sitting in her cell. She thought about the friends that she would never see again and the family she had left behind. She could feel a lump, rising in her throat but she refused to cry.  
"Hello" Rose called from the other side of the cell as Susan turned her head. Susan noticed a softer expression on Rose's face as she placed the plate of food inside the cell door and Susan wearily pulled herself from the bed and walked towards the plate of food, sitting cross legged in front of it.  
"Have you worked it out?" she asked, examining the looks of confusion that passed between Rose and Jake, who was standing just a few feet behind Rose who was kneeling in front of her.  
"The paper" she clarified "You haven't worked it out yet?"  
Rose nodded, a reassuring smile crossing her face, though it did nothing to calm Susan's nerves  
"Yes we did, Susan" Susan suddenly felt trapped and vulnerable as she picked the toast up off the plate and backed away, pacing around her cell. The name on the piece of paper meant nothing, a name she always used when she came to earth with her grandfather, but it was the fact that there was someone in this building who knew how to read High Galifreyan, it was knowledge beyond human comprehension.  
"How?!" she demanded, coming to a standstill and facing Rose who seemed as calm and as collected as ever, in the face of Susan's growing panic  
"We have a freelancer, he works with us on difficult subjects and he figured it out" Rose told her  
"You have clever friends" Susan told her, sitting back down on the bed.  
"I need to know what happened?" Rose asked "How you came here? What your intentions are? If anyone else came with ..."  
"My planet is gone, nothing but ashes now, there's no way that I can bring anyone to your planet and I came here alone" Susan explained as Rose nodded  
"I know and if it was up to me I wouldn't have you go through all of this, but I have to convince others that you're not a threat"  
"Do you think I am?" Susan challenged "A threat?"  
Rose shook her head "But as I said, there are a group of people who think you are and it's my job to convince them" Rose, by this point had risen to meet her, Susan had noticed that Rose always tried to stay at the level of the person she was talking to, it made her very likeable.  
"We were in Arcadia" Susan began "It was the second city of Galifrey, said to be the safest place on the planet, our family went there when my grandfather signed up to the army" Rose looked on sympathetically as Susan took a deep breath and continued her story, shaking off the horrible images of the trauma her grandfather had faced at the hands of Rassilon  
"But one day the sky trenches fell and the Daleks descended, the city was purged within the hour" The words became harder to say as the memories came flooding back, but she knew that after this she would be free, free to feel the morning air on her face and watch the sunrise, free to start again "I was with a woman, we ran into my house, I don't know why, we should have run for our lives, but the woman pulled me in and we began barricading the door. The woman pulled this from a cupboard" Susan placed her hand gently against her chest, where Rose could see a chain carefully hanging from her neck and hiding itself in her shirt.  
"May I?" Rose asked, extending her hand as Susan, reluctantly, tugged at the fine golden chain around her neck, lifting a small golden orb to the light. Inside the golden orb was, what looked to Rose, like a dark red ruby, but Susan knew that it was far rarer than that. It was a stone found in the depths of the mines near the death zone, they called them blood crystals for that very reason.  
"They use them in teleports" Susan explained  
"Not long range ones though?" Rose asked, quickly calculating that the stone was too small and the casing too thin to allow long range teleportation. Susan shook her head  
"Not naturally no, but my uncle was very good with technology and he extended the range as far as he could before he died" Susan carefully tucked the necklace back under her shirt as the howl her mother had made when news reached her that her brother's had died echoed in her ear.  
"It only works one way and can only carry one. I tried to convince the woman that she should use it, but she refused to" Susan could feel the tears pricking at her eyes, but she refused to cry, instead stopping for a moment, looking away and biting her tongue "She put it around my neck and activated it. She placed a kiss on my head and then walked towards the door as the Dalek's burst in" Rose recoiled, knowing Dalek's well enough to know what would happen next "The last thing I heard was her screams" Susan concluded, letting a single tear fall down her cheek.

...

Rose rested her forehead against the cell door, her mouth open and tears freely flowing either side. She could only imagine the pain that this young woman had endured and could only imagine what Jonathan, a soldier on the front line had seen and experienced.  
"Who was she?" Rose dared to ask after a moment's silence, forcing Susan to turn back from the cold wall she had been staring at to face her "The woman you were with, who was she?"  
"My mother. It was just me, her and her father ... my grandfather in the end" she corrected and Rose's heart broke as a soldier, sweat pouring from under his bonnet clambered down the stairs and whispered something in Rose's ear  
"I will be there as soon as" Rose promised as she turned back to face the frightened young woman in the cell in front of her  
"We're going to get you out" Rose promised as Susan leaned against the back wall, her eyes glazed over and unfeeling "I have to sort out something beforehand though, are you okay with Jake taking you through the paperwork?" and Susan nodded, she knew she didn't have a choice, if she wanted to get out of here.  
Rose nodded, exchanging a sympathetic smile with her as she turned and walked towards the door, her heels clattering against the cold hard surface bellow.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to review, favourite and follow as you please and please let me know if you want to hear anymore of this story, I have a lot more twists and turns in store if you do.


	14. The First Battle

Hello everyone,  
Thank you for all of your lovely comments and follows, it really makes my day and I'm sorry that I've been unable to reply to reviews, I'm afraid I've just been so busy with university work lately. Here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy.

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"I increased the opacity setting on all of the atmospheric containers, so we should avoid any damage to the plants, I know that would have been you first priority" the soldier told her as the pair of them marched towards the viewing platform, a few floors above the enclosed garden "I also locked all of the doors to the garden, it can only be opened by those on security clearance three or above" and Rose breathed a sigh of relief; the soldier hadn't quite gotten it right when he said that the garden would be her first priority, though she was always keen to avoid upsetting the refugees where possible, her first priority would be ensuring that Jonathan wouldn't get slaughtered by those in Torchwood who didn't agree with him being there. She had kept most of them away from Jonathan and Pete made sure, when he took over at Torchwood, that those who weren't happy about working with aliens either left the company or were kept at a suitably low level, so that they could be easily blocked .  
"Thank you Sam" Rose replied as they came to the door of the viewing platform and ,after a number of security checks, stepped through towards the control panel.  
The rain was pouring down on the garden, so much so that Rose had to look through the cameras on the lowest levels to see what was going on. By the fountain she saw the shadow of the man she knew, his fists repeatedly digging into the water feature. To the naked, unfamiliar eye, he looked completely calm, emotionless even, as his fists made contact with the feature and then withdrew again, but Rose knew better and it fractured her already broken heart.  
"What happened?" Sam asked  
"He just found out that his daughter's died" Sam looked towards Rose as she stared at the screen her heart breaking just a little bit more with every punch he placed on the water feature.  
"Why did he turn on the rain feature then, does it remind him of home or something?" Rose smiled sadly, she liked Sam, he was fairly new and he was trying his best to understand a situation he hadn't previously been exposed to, but his idea that all refugees ,like the Doctor were sentimental, just wasn't the case.  
"No" she replied "He grew up in a desert"  
"Then why turn on the rain setting?"  
"The same reason we all stand in the middle of a storm" she told him, taking a brief look towards him, studying the sympathetic look on his face  
"So no one can tell if you're crying "  
Suddenly there was a loud crash and Rose and Sam quickly spun round to find Wilson, one of the coordinators within Torchwood, dwarfing a group of six armed men.  
Wilson was a man, who would seem almost comic, were it not for the permentantly sour look on his face, his legs, hips and stomach were so much smaller than the muscle on the rest of his body, but Rose knew, as did everyone else at Torchwood, that a lot of the muscle was for show and that actually Wilson didn't stand a chance in a fight against her, though Rose always tried to avoid finding out if that was actually the case.  
"Step aside Miss" Wilson demanded, walking towards the control desk "I've got this one"  
Rose quickly placed a hand on his chest as he stopped dead in his tracks  
"I give the orders around here" Rose reminded him "and I have this under control, you and your men can go back and spend your time more wisely" The six men behind Wilson respectfully nodded towards Rose and began to make their way out of the door  
"Stay" Wilson barked  
"Why?" Sam asked "Miss Tyler has told you she has no need of them"  
"You don't have this situation under control, he was trying to destroy the garden! Still is!" Wilson shouted.  
"Even you can't destroy the garden, I don't think there will be any kind of danger from him punching a few walls" Rose calmly reminded him, though everyone in the room, but Wilson, could tell that she was anything but calm.  
"You are dealing with a volatile and disgusting alien, what would your father think if I just let you go in there to be slaughtered by this maniac"  
"The only maniac in this building is you!" barked Sam, unable to hold his temper and Rose could see from the exchange of awkward looks behind Wilson that many of the men agreed  
"My father would think that it is legally my responsibility to protect him, therefore I am the one who must deal with him. There is no reason for you to be here Wilson, you may step down"  
" Protecting them!? You should be protecting us" Wilson told her  
"Don't tell me how to do my job Wilson, you know that you're attitude isn't welcome here"  
"Well go and get killed by that barbaric thing then" Wilson said, squaring up to Rose, who was now backed up against the control desk. The corner of Rose's lip turned upwards as Sam stepped back, seeing her hands shake with rage and a slight golden glow in her eyes, and knowing exactly what would happen next.  
There was a sharp kick as Wilson crumpled to the floor and Rose couldn't help but notice the smiles on the men's faces as they watched his face screw up like a piece of paper. She grabbed the lapel of his jacket and pulled him up to face her  
"He is not a thing, he has a name and it is Jonathan, you would do well in future to use it. He is also the only reason any of you are alive so show a little respect and stand down!"  
Wilson staggered backwards towards the door  
" Don't think you'll get away with this!" he cried as he limped down the corridor "I'll be telling your father about this!"  
"I can't wait" Rose yelled back as the men, once again, politely nodded in her direction before following Wilson down the corridor.  
"Are you okay?" Sam asked seeing the golden tinge leave her eyes and her shaking hands beginning to slow and steady. Rose nodded and gave a small smile, before she ordered him to stay within the viewing platform to guard the control desk, before she walked down the stairs, towards the enclosed garden.

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Please let me know if you want to hear more or have any suggestions on how I can improve (and don't worry I'm aware that spelling and grammar are awful, so no need to warn me about that). Reviews, Favourites and Follows are welcome as per usual.


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